How many of you have been asked?

[Presence]

"I've got this great idea, but no funding, will you just believe in me and work for free?"

Ok, this has been getting out of hand for me as of late and I just wanted to see if anyone is currently undergoing this level of gunfire.

And I have my own personal reasons for devoting personal time and effort into specific projects but I'm hoping to know what it takes for you guys to give your free time and production effort because I'm feeling like a comlete selfish A-hole at the moment for turning a couple of guys down last night.

We all know empty promises are worse than no promises at all and the worst for me has to be "percentage points or production points which wil be paid out upon green light."

Guys make me feel better, lol.

[Blue]

Well...i'm 23, and i've been getting those messages/emails since i was 14 or so. Back then i was young enough and nieve enough to work on thoe projects. None of them ever went anywhere, ever. Most of the staff had no idea what was going on, the project lead was completely disorganised and...

To be honest, 95% of the people who ask for free work (in my experience) usually have no intention of doing any of the work, but instead want to find someone else to do every step of the process... i remember one guy who basically explained to me and a few others what summed up to him be a conductor and all of us being his musicians. He worded it so nicely, but when someone asked "what will you be doing?" all he could come up with was something along the lines of "making sure you all do it".

On my site, which i don't even consider a portfolio, i still had to add a "paying projects only" near my email to stop the flood in my inbox.

Usually though, unless you're working on a project with someone in person (like a friend), you won't get far if it is a "for the love of the project" type deal. I did make a lot of cool things with a friend at school who was studying C++. A lot of lil card games and windows toys. nothing big, but everything we made got finished.

So yea, don't bother with those freebie jobs. Very rarely do they do you much benefit.

[Gryphon]

I get those too... but I don't really feel guilty about shooting them down. If they don't value my time and work, why would I (or you) want to do anything for them? I've never seen an "exposure" project amount to anything, and I've got a schedule full up with clients who do value my time. At least to my point of view, it's a disservice to myself, my clients, and the industry as a whole if I were to ever work for free.

[Elwell]

Guys make me feel better, lol. This should help. Read all three pages, and know that you're not alone.
http://www.povonline.com/cols/COL209.htm

[Staz Johnson]

I get emails along those lines usually at least once a week. My standard response is to say that their project sounds interesting but unfortunately I don't do unpaid work. I then give them a breakdown of my hourly/daily rate, if they are serious about their dream, I figure they should be prepared to invest in it. And to be fair to them, some have in fact then gone on to commission payed work.

I have my own pet projects (which may come to fruition one day...yeah right) which I spend my own free time on, but if I were to need writers or colorists or whatever, I wouldn't have the ordacity to ask them to devote their time for free.

[blanquish]

i got a pm for a project like that a couple of days ago, just ignored it and went back to drawing.

[timpaatkins]

i remember one guy who basically explained to me and a few others what summed up to him be a conductor and all of us being his musicians. He worded it so nicely, but when someone asked "what will you be doing?" all he could come up with was something along the lines of "making sure you all do it".



YUp, thats basically the role of an Art/Creative Director. Nothing wrong with that in my opinion.

(And before people jump down my throat, there is a hell of a lot more to being an AD/CD than that, but there are the good ones and the bad ones, just like there are good illustrators/bad illustrators to work with)

[Interceptor]

I got a message that that a couple days ago, as well.

[Qitsune]

YUp, thats basically the role of an Art/Creative Director. Nothing wrong with that in my opinion.

(And before people jump down my throat, there is a hell of a lot more to being an AD/CD than that, but there are the good ones and the bad ones, just like there are good illustrators/bad illustrators to work with)

Yep, but an art director doesn't ask people to work for free while he's just watching. I have plenty of personnal projects I don't have time to do, I don't need someone to make me do their personnal projects. If someone wants me to do something for them, they better be ready to do something for me.

Heck, even ppl already in the industry are like that sometimes. My former employer upon hearing that I was starting my own company (I had finished working for him about a year before) wanted to coproduce the game we were setting to do. All was fine and we started negociating a contract but the negociations soured when we found out it was basically, we did all the work and he got half the revenue. We ended up doing it on our own and he got bitchy and sent me cease and desist letters so I'd get stuff I did working for him out of my portfolio (for which he already gave me permission.)

[timpaatkins]

Yep, but an art director doesn't ask people to work for free while he's just watching. I have plenty of personnal projects I don't have time to do, I don't need someone to make me do their personnal projects. If someone wants me to do something for them, they better be ready to do something for me.



Of course, I havent said anything about doing stuff for free, Im wholly against it. If an AD asked me to work for free, I wouldnt consider them an AD.

[chaosrocks]

I do volunteer work in person...for art you have to pay..unless you can enthrall me withthe ideas of your project..show me something new and a real pipeline for doing it and Ill think about it. If not.....Id rather write that symphony Ive been meaning to write....

chaos

[Mike Frank]

I've found that everyone is full of good ideas and rarely many of them are actually willing to follow up on them. So I tell that to people who ask for me to donate time to something like that. If they can show me that they can do their own work, then I might consider helping them out. But its senseless to try to help somebody with drawings for a movie or a game idea if they dont even have a script or outline yet.

[Presence]

Ok, let's flip this for a second...

Has anyone ever been so compelled by another person that they actually offered their time for free (we're not talking a couple of sketches here but some actual full on production time) and what was it that really pushed you into staying with the project?

A. Shared interest
B. Forseeing it to be worth a ton of money
C. A close friend ie. sympathy for the cause
D. Totally inspirational content and team
E. Guilt because you were drinking when you said yes, they were not and took you seriously. :P

[DavePalumbo]

Has anyone ever been so compelled by another person that they actually offered their time for free

Have and would again, but only if at least three if not all four of the following are met:

-I have the time in my schedule
-I have, at the least, a fair degree of interest in the project
-I'm helping a friend or worthy cause in taking on the project
-The project is very stable (highly unlikely to disolve before going to print) and likely to benefit my portfolio/resume

[nicolas]

I have my own pet projects ....


Really?! Go on...you have my attention....... tell me more

[DavidCousens]

I used to get flooded with mails like that. I found that adding an FAQ to my site which covered the fact that I couldn't accept proposals like that cut them down by around a half. It's worth doing. :)

[fixx]

I make everyone pay. Even family and close friends. Every hour I spend on a project not my own or paid work is one hour less income.
Also, I've noticed that if you once do something as a favour, you get a reputation for being "nice" and people take advantage of that, shamelessly.

[DavePalumbo]

if you once do something as a favour, you get a reputation for being "nice" and people take advantage of that, shamelessly

Yeah, but you still always have the right to say no. I know that some people don't want to look like a "dick" and will let themselves be taken advantage of to avoid looking like one. These people need to practice saying "no" from time to time. Just because you help one person out (for whatever your reasons may be) does not obligate you in any way to help any single other person out because you set a precedent or something.

[Manuela]

I used to help out an RPG project, basically doing all of the interior illustrations of the source book (although I had not known that yet when I started on the project). Did it because I was young and inexperienced and wanted to see how well I work under direction and with a deadline. There was a set amount of picture that I agreed to doing before starting. After some time the other artist who was also helping the project left, and I got his share of the work as well without being asked. In the end I was so bored by the project and the lack of challenge (the guy I was working with often had no clue what he wanted in a picture and let me go through loads of different version because he couldn't make up his mind); so in the end, when he wanted me to do the cover and asked for an ultra-detailed picture, I told him I'd do a simple cover for him, since that would be faster (and we were already behind on the deadline) and the complex one would take too much time away from my paying customers. I also offered to do his version if he paid me, quoting my rates.
At that point he got angry and called me unreliable and ungrateful. I replied saying that I'm not gonna be called ungrateful for working for free and that I'm not interested in his project anymore. Best decision I've ever made.

Another unpaid MMORPG project also screwed me and my boyfriend over (plus, the managers had no clue about managing a game or keeping unpaid workers motivated enough to work, so development was slooooow). So I quit that project as well.

That's when I told myself I'm not doing unpaid work ever again and I really don't regret it. All the people who wanted to have free art from me usually didn't appreciate the work and even were rude at points, while the people who are actually willing to pay are a joy to work with, always polite and friendly. Work with paying clients has always been more satisfactory than unpaid projects in the end.

[otis]

If you love the project, and get somthing in WRITTING like a percentage of the profits,ownership etc. Then go for it. But if you are just working on somthing for free with no written contract or ownership then you ARE not just wasting your time, your an idiot.

Invest in your reputation and name. Do you want to be recognized as a proffessional or a sucka who will work for free?